music clip of the day

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Category: rocksteady

Monday, January 22nd

sounds of Jamaica

Rocksteady classical love songs (7 inch vinyl mix), Soul Skankin’ (DJ), 2015

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lagniappe

my back pages

On a cold, snowy night forty-seven years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, my wife, Suzanne, and I were married. Tenor saxophonist Von Freeman (1923-2012) and pianist John Young (1922-2008) provided the music, playing before the ceremony (“Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More”); during (Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” [unaccompanied saxophone], as Suzanne walked down the aisle), and after (“My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father”). All of what they played that night can be heard here (0:14-).

Friday, January 13th

sounds of London (and Kingston)

Pinty Ricketts (DJ), playing “Big Big Boss” (Johnny Moore [1960s]), London (The Night Owl), 12/4/22

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lagniappe

reading table/passings

The more I read, the less I understand.

—Charles Simic (May 9, 1938–January 9, 2023), from “Serving Time” (New and Selected Poems: 1962-2012)

Saturday, October 22nd

basement jukebox

Phil Pratt & Ken Boothe, “Sweet Song for My Baby,” 1968

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lagniappee

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

Tuesday, August 17th

basement jukebox

The Paragons, “The Tide Is High” (J. Holt, T. Evans, H. Barrett), 1967

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lagniappe

random sights

this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)

Tuesday, September 22nd

passings

Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, singer, songwriter, December 8, 1942–September 11, 2020

The Maytals (later Toots and the Maytals), “Pressure Drop” (F. Hibbert), 1970 (original recording)

 

It’s a song about revenge, but in the form of karma: If you do bad things to innocent people, then bad things will happen to you. The title was a phrase I used to say. If someone done me wrong, rather than fight them like a warrior, I’d say: “The pressure’s going to drop on you.”

—Toots Hibbert, The Guardian, 9/6/16

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

Saturday, July 25th

basement jukebox

Dobby Dobson (July 5, 1942-July 21, 2020), “I’m a Loving Pauper,” 1967

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

reading table

A lifetime adrift in a boat, or in old age leading a tired horse into the years, every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.

—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), from Narrow Road to the Interior (translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill)

Thursday, April 16th

sounds of Kingston

Desmond Dekker & The Aces, “007 (Shanty Town)” (D. Dekker), official music video (shot in Kingston, Jamaica), 1967

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

reading table

We are survivors of immeasurable events,
Flung upon some reach of land,
Small, wet miracles without instructions,
Only the imperative of change.

—Rebecca Elson (1960-1999), “Evolution”

Thursday, January 23rd

basement jukebox

Alton Ellis (1938-2008), “Breaking Up,” 1968

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.